Long beach offers barging for electric buses

One of the means to more sustainable cities is through better public transportation, which can potentially take more cars off of the roads and reduce emissions in urban areas, and further step along that “greening” of transportation could come through electric buses, which could replace their diesel counterparts.

The sticky point for many electric vehicle solutions is the need for plenty of charging stations along the route, so drivers can “top off” their batteries and extend their range, along with the need for quicker charging solutions.

Electric buses are no different, in that they need to be able to complete their routes without lengthy stopovers for charging, and to that end, wireless, or inductive, charging stations might be the perfect solution. With wireless charging, buses can automatically receive a charge while stopped at transfer stations or stops, which could be enough of a charge to make it through the rest of the route (or to the next charge station).

Wireless chargers for electric buses are currently planned for Montreal, Canada, and Mannheim, Germany, using chargers from Primove, and the University of Utah currently has a 25kW wireless charging system in place for powering a 22′ bus on one of its campuses, thanks to the work of one of its spin-out companies, WAVE.